


Always Prepared

by harvestleaves



Series: Out of Breath [9]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Carlos and his partner have a heart to heart, Carlos is Stressed, Gen, Worried Carlos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26226898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harvestleaves/pseuds/harvestleaves
Summary: Carlos and his partner have a talk about why Carlos is so tired.Tumblr Prompt: Carlos' colleagues and boss noticing that Carlos always carries an asthma inhaler with him without having asthma.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes & Officer McCoy
Series: Out of Breath [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618924
Comments: 12
Kudos: 151





	Always Prepared

Carlos ran a hand over his face with a groggy yawn as he shuffled into the Austin Police Department at 7 AM, vanilla latte in hand as he sat down at his desk with a groan.

“Long night Reyes?”

Carlos looked up with a raised eyebrow as his partner, Derek McCoy walked over, wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Your boy keep you up again?” 

Carlos snorted back a laugh at that comment, though he couldn’t really argue. He hadn’t been kept awake for sex, but TK had come over to his place wheezing after his shift and they’d ended up staying up until almost two in the morning, with Carlos making sure that TK took his breathing treatments at the right time.

“I guess you can sort of say that, though trust me, I wish it was for more fun reasons,” he sighed softly, bringing his coffee up to his lips for a small sip.

“He okay? Nightmares still?” McCoy asked curiously as took a drink of his own coffee, remembering when Carlos told him about TK’s gunshot wound a few months ago.

Carlos shook his head as he looked up at his partner. “No, thank goodness. Those are pretty few and far between nowadays. No, he’s been having some health issues that have been messing with his...our sleep patterns lately.”

“Health issues? Is that why you’ve started to carry around an inhaler?”

Carlos looked up at McCoy in surprise at the words that left his partners lips, almost spilling his coffee onto his desk.

“We’re trained to notice these things Reyes. Plus, I’ve been your partner almost three years now, I’ve seen you during allergy season sneezing up a storm and with the flu last year. If you had an ailment that required you to use an inhaler, I feel like I would’ve noticed by now with how many times I’ve seen you sick.”

McCoy grinned as Carlos rolled his eyes at the comment about him constantly getting sick before he gently patted the other man on the shoulder.

“Sorry kiddo, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but clearly whatever’s going on is stressing you out too and I don’t want you falling asleep on a call because you’re exhausted.”

Carlos let out a heavy sigh as he dropped his head into his hands, rubbing over his face before he looked back up at McCoy.

“TK has asthma. It’s not newly diagnosed, he’s had it since he was little. But he hasn’t had issues with it in years, so it’s not too controlled nowadays. So now whenever he comes home from intense calls, he’s wheezing so badly it scares the crap out of me,” Carlos frowned, immediately picturing TK’s pale face when he came home the previous day at almost 11 at night, his shoulders heaving as he struggled to catch his breath, inhaler still gripped tightly in his hand.

Shuddering at the image his brain had come up, Carlos moved to take the last few gulps of his coffee.

“That explains the inhaler you started to carry around a few months ago. Damn, is he seeing a specialist for it?” McCoy asked as he finally moved to sit in the chair across from Carlos, concern on his face for his young partner as he studied the bags under the other man’s face.

“Yeah, he started seeing one about a month ago, but with his job, the controller medicine isn’t getting the proper time to prep his lungs. With how crazy both of our shifts are, it’s difficult for him to take them at the same time everyday, so there’s been weeks where he’s missed a few doses, and we’re now trying to figure out the best times of day for him to set his alarm for them.”

“And how are you handling all of this? It must be difficult getting used to your boyfriend having a chronic condition,” McCoy asked as he leaned back in his seat.

Carlos blinked at the question in surprise before he gave a small shrug. “I don’t really know, no one’s asked me that yet. Around TK I feel like I need to constantly be in charge of the situation whenever he has an attack, because if you panic, it makes him panic more. But I wish I could tell him how scared I get watching him gasp for air. I’ve talked to his dad about it, and he’s been pretty helpful, but I just wish TK would open up to me more about it. We’ve had a few breakthroughs where he tells me what he’s feeling or needs, but he’s usually pretty closed off and tries to handle it himself without telling me. I mean it’s terrifying waking up in the middle of the night to see the person you love unable to breathe and having to rush them to the hospital.”

“Have you talked to TK about why he’s so closed off about this? Maybe if you told _him_ everything you just told me, he’d be more willing to open up to you,” McCoy said after a moment of thought, glad Carlos was being vulnerable with him since the two of them didn’t get to have as many heartfelt moments as he was sure either of them really wanted to.

“You really think so? I mean I want him to, definitely, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to start doing it all the time,” Carlos reminded him as he glanced at his phone, knowing they had to get on patrol soon.

“He will. If he’s as in love with you as you clearly are with him, he’s going to make the effort, but it might not happen immediately. You have to give him time, and while I know that doesn’t sound easy, it will get easier the more you two evolve as a couple. Now, that’s enough mushy talk for one day. Let’s get to patrol,” McCoy grinned as he got up, clapping a hand onto Carlos’ shoulder reassuringly.

“Thank you.”

“Any time kiddo. Any time.”


End file.
